Birsa Bhagwan Tribal Society of India, an NGO, doubled as a placement agency and was allegedly involved in trafficking girls from Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa.
NEW DELHI / TOI / 23 Jul 2008: On Tuesday, a 25-year-old man was arrested by the IP Estate police on charges of trafficking young girls from tribal areas of Jharkhand to Delhi, luring them with promises of well-paying jobs. Accused Bhim reportedly supplied girls to a placement agency dealing in domestic helps in Shakurpur where he sold them for as little as Rs 2000.
The agency, Birsa Bhagwan Tribal Society of India, registered under the Societies Act as an NGO, doubled as a placement agency and was allegedly involved in trafficking girls from Bihar, Jharkhand, West Bengal and Orissa. The racket came to light when the mother of one of the girls Bhim had taken, a 10-year-old from a village in Jharkhand, never heard from her daughter after sending her to Delhi to work three years ago.
The girl's mother approached Bachpan Bachao Aayog, which put her through to CWC which initiated the process of tracing the girl. "When we saw that police in Ranchi were not taking any action on our complaint, we followed Bhim to Delhi when he came to pick up another girl. We reached the Shakurpur placement agency and found that on the ground floor, they were running an NGO and the first floor was an apartment turned into a placement agency. We found several young girls there who had been promised jobs, but where they actually ended up, nobody knew. There were no proper records of the girls either," said Naresh Sengar, national secretary, Bachpan Bachao Aayog. He added that the 10-year-old girl they were looking for could not be traced in the records.
"We had seven other women who had come with us to look for their respective children. All returned empty-handed," said Sengar. According to a police official, Bhim was arrested and charged with trafficking minors and abduction. He revealed the name of his accomplice, one Munni, who was now absconding. The owner of the placement agency and his brother were also arrested.
Sengar alleged that the children were traded and trafficked like commodities and the "current rates" were around Rs 4,000 per child. "They are promised salaries of Rs 10,000 a month as lures. But the children end up either in the flesh trade or as domestic helps at salaries as low as Rs 1,200 a month.
They are not paid for months on end, so that they don't leave. CWC helped us nab the criminals and thus we were able to rescue the children. However, search for the other children are still on," said Sengar.
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/Delhi/Girls_sold_as_helps__for_Rs_2000_in_capital_one_held/articleshow/3266693.cms
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